BawaPapu’s Kid Gosht

I have always been curious about the origins of yet another Parsi meat specialty, the Kid Gosht. This dish used to be a regular fixture at many Parsi wedding and navjotes a decade or two earlier but sadly it’s not seen much these days. I discovered from Bawa Papu earlier this year that Kid Gosht came to be named so because of the tender baby lamb that should ideally be used to make the dish. I quickly retorted that a better explanation was that it used to be a mutton dish parents used to make exclusively for their kids ergo, Kid Gosht.

Amid much laughter, BawaPapu promised me that in that case he’d teach me his version of this Parsi classic and make it for his kid (yours truly) any time I’d like. But, we ran into a small problem. His version of the recipe required coconut cream for the dish to get its requisite thickness and finding coconut cream in Mumbai can be quite difficult. We tried making it with coconut milk and with fresh coconut but each had it’s own negatives so the recipe would never come out just right. It wasn’t until I shared my woes with another cooking enthusiast friend of mine that we came upon the solution – crushed cashews soaked in milk!

I tried it with the cashews a couple of times before serving it to #BawaPapu and it came out delicious – he didn’t even notice the lack of coconut cream which was the sign I needed to finally share the recipe with you all. While not many people know of Kid Gosht outside the Parsi community, this dish has fast become one of my favourites and I am on a mission to convert Dhansak lovers into Kid Gosht lovers because more than the tender mutton, what I like is that this dish has barely any spices and that the meat is cooked in its own juices. So, without further ado here’s how you can make it at home.

Begin by marinating the boneless mutton pieces in salt and ginger-garlic paste for atleast an hour. Once marinated, pressure cook along with 2 cups water for 3 whistles and 20 mins on slow.

While the mutton is cooking, soak the cashews in the milk for 30 minutes. Grind together all the dry whole spices.

Once ground, add a little of the cashew-milk mixture at a time and keep grinding until you have a smooth paste.

Fry the finely chopped onions in the oil until soft.

Add in the cubed potatoes along with the mutton stock, milk, salt, green chillies and the cashew paste. Cover and let this cook until the potatoes are tender. Add in the mutton and let the mixture simmer for another 10 minutes. Finally, add in the finely chopped coriander and mix well.

We’ve actually realised that it comes out much better with the cashews so I’d recommend you try it once with the cashews. The coconut cream tends to give the dish a coconut flavour while the only purpose of using it is to thicken the gravy. Let me know how you go 🙂